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HU Gets Superb Pitching ... And First MIAC Baseball Win Of 2012

One of the oldest baseball adages is good pitching will generally best good hitting. And that is exactly what happened on Tuesday afternoon at windy Kaube Field in Northfield. The Pipers got two terrific pitching efforts from Matt Eickman and Brett Bugielski. Unfortunately, they ran into a brilliant effort on the other side of the ledger and had to settle for a split of the doubleheader with Carleton. After dropping a 1-0 opener, HU rallied for a 5-3 win in the second game. It raised Hamline's conference won-loss mark to 1-5 and their overall standard to 9-15.

Eickman allowed just six hits in the lidlifter and lowered his ERA to a team-leading 2.88 but was tinged for a fourth inning run. HU managed just three hits -- two singles by Jordan Rubbelke and one by Mark Radmacher -- and could not get a runner past second base.

The second game was a different story from the start. With one out in the first, Tyler Johnson banged out the first of his three hits. A walk and a second single loaded the bases. Radmacher then singled to left to score one run and Ben Richardson followed with a foul ball out that produced a second run. The Knights responded for two in the bottom of the inning but HU went back ahead in the second. Rubbelke, who had four hits in the game, led off the inning with a single to left and eventually scored on Johnson's single to center field. (It was quite a day for that pair. Rubbelke went 6-for-7 on the day and raised his average 52 points to a season high .338. Johnson's 3-for-6 effort upped his average 11 points to .426.)

The Knights tied the game with another run in the third inning. Bugielski relieved HU starter Dylan Olson at the beginning of the fourth inning and dazzled them the rest of the way, giving up just three hits while whiffing a season-high seven batters.

Hamline snapped the 3-3 knot for good in the sixth inning when Cory Miller singled and rode home on Johnson's double. An insurance run in the seventh sealed the deal.

After 24 games, Hamline will see the insides of Midway Stadium for the first time this year when they host North Central (Minneapolis) for a nine-inning game on Thursday, April 12 at 3;00 p.m. HU returns to MIAC action Saturday at Macalester.